Cloudways Review (August 2026): Plans, Pricing & Who It's For
Managed cloud hosting on your choice of DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, or Google Cloud — pay-as-you-go, unlimited apps per server.
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Current plans
Entry plan: Flexible – DigitalOcean Standard 1GB (Micro)
$11/mo ($0.0153/hr, pay-as-you-go; monthly/hourly billing only, no annual plans)
1 GB RAM, 1 Core CPU, 25 GB SSD storage, 1 TB bandwidth, unlimited applications/websites on the server, free SSL, 24/7 support
Step-up plan: Flexible – DigitalOcean Standard 8GB (Medium, "Most Popular" badge)
$88/mo ($0.1222/hr)
8 GB RAM, 4 vCPU, 160 GB SSD storage, 5 TB bandwidth, unlimited applications, free Object Cache Pro (2GB+ WordPress plans)
Prices from the official pricing page, August 2026. Promotions change frequently — confirm before you buy.
See current Cloudways pricing →
Who it's for
Developers, freelancers, and agencies hosting multiple WordPress/WooCommerce or PHP sites who want cloud-VPS performance and provider choice without doing their own server administration.
What you get
- Managed servers on 5 cloud providers (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Google Cloud) with Standard / Premium / General Purpose / CPU-Optimized server types
- Pay-as-you-go hourly billing with no long-term contracts (e.g. DO Standard: $11 / $24 / $46 / $88 / $149 ... up to $1,056/mo for 192GB)
- Unlimited applications and websites per server; unlimited visits
- Free SSL (Let's Encrypt), free managed site migration, automated backups, one-click staging and cloning
- Performance stack: NGINX-based "Lightning Stack", Redis, free Object Cache Pro on 2GB+ WordPress plans
- 24/7 expert support via chat and ticketing; server-level firewall and WordPress vulnerability scanner
- Add-ons: Cloudflare Enterprise CDN $4.99/domain/mo, email $1/mailbox/mo, SafeUpdates/Site Manager $3/app/mo, Malware Protection $4/app/mo, DNS Made Easy $0.50/domain/mo
- Separate "Autonomous" line: fully managed WordPress with Kubernetes autoscaling and built-in Cloudflare Enterprise — Growth $99/mo, Scale $199/mo (Recommended), Plus $399/mo, Enterprise custom; 3-day free trial without a credit card
Strengths
- Choice of 5 IaaS providers and dozens of global data centers under one managed platform
- True pay-as-you-go hourly billing with no lock-in; scale servers up as needed
- Unlimited apps per server keeps per-site cost low for multi-site portfolios
- Strong included performance/security stack (NGINX stack, Redis, Object Cache Pro, staging, free migration, firewall)
Trade-offs
- No email hosting or domain registration included — both are paid add-ons, and extras (CDN, premium support, per-GB backup fees) stack up on top of the base price
- No cPanel; the custom panel and server-based model have a learning curve for beginners coming from shared hosting
- Promotional pricing (30% off for 3 months) reverts to full rate, and high-traffic setups (or the Autonomous line at $99+/mo) get expensive quickly
Bottom line
Cloudways makes sense when the strengths above match your situation and the trade-offs don't. If you're still comparing, the side-by-side table puts all three hosts on one screen.
See current Cloudways pricing →
Also see: Kinsta review · WP Engine review